I thought I should give an update for posterity - I graduated with a Masters in Public Health and started working for the Refugee Health Program at the Utah Department of Health! I actually started my job in November and finished classes in December (which was not a fun overlap, especially since I was doing extra schoolwork to graduate early) but just walked at convocation in April. It was nice to have something to commemorate the end to a very hard couple of years. Mom, Carrie, Lucy, and Theo drove from Colorado and Vivian flew in for the weekend, and we had a grand time.
The real story, though, is that Vivian and Carrie presented me with a meritorious award - a real dead crunchy frog from the halls of Blue Heron Lane. I was so proud. But after I dropped Viv off at the airport I realized to my horror that I had forgotten the box containing the frog at the Gregory’s house (as in, Martin and Glynis Gregory with the nice British manners and impeccable taste and absolutely no dead animals lining the halls of their home). AhHHHH! I hurriedly called Carrie in the hopes that she was still at their house, but no luck! They had driven away. So I called the Gregory’s home number, hoping beyond hope that they hadn’t found the box yet and that I could recover it before they realized what was in it. But when I said “Hi this is Rachel! I forgot something at your house...” Glynis responded “Oh, is the frog yours?” Mortified and giggling hysterically, I drove up there and collected it. They were very nice, of course: “Your family have such wonderful senses of humor…” but I wonder if I’ll ever be invited back.